As per the King's orders, the coronation was followed by food and wine being distributed throughout the city. Thus, the citizens ate and drank merrily while the ministers and dignitaries were formally welcomed into the palace and shown rooms to stay in.
With the coronation done, Daneel could officially use the throne room from the next day. Deciding to have an audience with the envoys then, he sent a message saying the same.
Each envoy received the message in a different way. While Eldra and Bevis crushed the parchment which held the message and locked their doors, Bos and Skkraz simply enjoyed the sumptuous delicacies that had been brought to their rooms.
This was also Daneel's way to see the attitude the respective allies had for Lanthanor. A delay of a day, was, after all, nothing that could result in enmity forming.
The ceremony had been quite taxing on everyone's nerves, thus Daneel had orderd Kellor and the rest to take a day off and be prepared to dive into work from the next day.
As for himself, he also retired to the King's chambers in order to make a decision regarding whether to buy the Kingdom Management Tools or not.
Yet, just as he was about to talk to the system, a knock sounded on his door.
It was Faxul. They hadn't had much time to talk since the night in the throne room, so Daneel simply thought that he was here to speak about something.
But when Daneel asked his friend to enter and sit, Faxul shook his head and said, "There's a noble who wants to meet you. I think you should hear what she has to say."
Daneel was startled hearing this. A Noble? Many of them had been constantly begging to speak with him ever since they had been placed on house arrest, yet Daneel had ordered the guards to only record their pleas and not respond.
Faxul and Joshua, being the two leaders he trusted, had been granted access to the palace equivalent to the now Grand Court Mage Kellor.
Although Daneel still hadn't decided on their official positions, this was the least that he could do.
Seeing the startled expression, Faxul simply said, "I was passing by and I heard her plea. It is quite logical, and I think you should hear it before making a decision on what to do about the Nobles."
Saying these words, Faxul pushed a piece of parchment into his hands before hastily leaving.
Daneel knew that his friend had a weird temperament. Mostly reserved, he seldom spoke much except with him and a few others. Still, it wasn't the first time he had made a suggestion.
What Daneel actually found weird was that just before leaving, Faxul had had an agonized look on his face as if he wanted to say something but couldn't. Yet, before Daneel could ask about it, he had already left.
Deciding to track him down later and get an answer, Daneel opened the parchment to see a name scribbled on it.
Gesturing to the guard nearby, he proceeded to order the noble brought to his chambers.
A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door signaling that the guard had arrived.
"Send the noble in and close the door."
After the guard heard the command, the door opened to let in a pretty lady dressed in a white dress.
The door closed behind her, leaving her alone with Daneel who had just stood up from his bed.
As she raised her head, he saw that her eyes were sunken, as if she had been crying for a very long time.
Her flowing golden hair was a mess, with the formerly immaculate braid now ruined.
Even her face was pale, but it did little to hide her gentle beauty.
With almond shaped brown eyes, a cleft nose and generous lips, she was one of the most beautiful girls Daneel had seen since coming to this world.
Although Daneel had had little experience in interacting with the other sex in both of his lives, he had still been taught the proper way to behave by both the women who had graced his childhoods.
Indeed, when his mother talked about finding a bride, he simply blushed because he had never considered having romantic intentions any time soon, at least before reaching his goals.
It was the same right now; although he admired the girl's beauty and thought she looked pretty, he wasn't the type to patronize and favor someone just based on their gender or looks, nor decide to pursue and elicit someone into a relationship just because he could. Both the kind old lady in the orphanage and Maria had at least taken care to raise him with proper morals, which he adhered to currently during every step of his way.
Thus, when the girl he had summoned said the words "My Lord, I have a humble request." and started undressing in front of him, Daneel was badly shocked and for a second, he had no idea what to do.
Thankfully, he regained his senses just before the girl was about to pull the white gown down and expose her whole body after removing the clasps that held the dress to her shoulders.
Quickly teleporting forward, Daneel took the thin arms of the girl into his and stopped her from letting the dress fall.
His heartbeat accelerating due to the suddenness of the situation, he first made sure to hold her hands tight.
Tears started to leak from her eyes as Eloise, as the girl was called, started crying seeing that even this plan had failed.
"First, forget about doing whatever it is you were going to do. I am sorry if I hurt you, but I will be releasing your hands now. I want you to wear your dress properly and tell me your plea, understand?"
He spoke as if he were talking to a child who needed everything to be explained clearly..
Hearing him, Eloise nodded and tied the clasps before massaging her hands which had been freed.
It would do no good to continue her previous plan, especially after she had been ordered explicitly not to do so.
Thus, she had no other choice but to resort to her final option: a desperate plea.
Falling to her knees, Eloise knelt in front of Daneel who was still keeping an eye on her to make sure she wouldn't continue her previous actions.
Sighing with relief and stepping back, Daneel said, "Get up and speak your piece. You only have the opportunity to talk because Faxul spoke on your behalf."
Nodding hurriedly, the woman got up and collected herself before beginning to speak.
"Your Majesty, I am Eloise Lanthanore, daughter of the late Richard Lanthanore. I was there in the room when you killed my father and were acknowledged by the people as their King. I know of the horrendous acts that he, my brothers and my cousins engaged in. All I ask is that you hear the pleas of us few, who have always tried to adhere to the morals taught by our mothers in the little time we had with them before we were made to part. Although some have done horrible things in the time they were drunk with power, they also changed their ways later and have repented their actions. I beseech you to hear us out, My Lord. I trust you know the reason why Lanthanor has not had a queen for the last few decades?"
As Daneel heard these words, he tried hard to control his expression in order to not let the shock appear on his face.
Although he had read about it briefly, Daneel had never focused on the deeper aspects pertaining to the Royal Family. In fact, if he were being honest with himself, he had even seen all Nobles as being two-dimensionally evil, simply because of the overwhelming amount of rotten ones he had seen.
Realizing that this was definitely a gargantuan oversight, Daneel wondered why Kellor hadn't brought it up before. Summoning him immediately through the oathstone, Daneel prepared to ask for the reason.
Asking the girl to wait, Daneel sat back down on his bed with a pondering expression on his face. A couple of minutes later, the Grand Court Mage entered.
Yet, before he greeted Daneel who was sitting on the bed, a shocked expression appeared on his face as he saw Eloise standing while hugging herself pitifully.
"Eloise? How are you here? I was just going to present your case to the King tomorrow! Is anything wrong?"
Hearing the honest surprise in Kellor's words, Daneel relaxed seeing that he hadn't thought wrong about Kellor.
Both the other options of Kellor either not knowing about this or Kellor choosing not to tell him about the matter would mean that he was not the kind man who cared about people like Laravel who stood on the side of good. Thus, Daneel was relieved to find out that this was not the case.
Although he had heard and read a few things, he had thrown them into the back of his mind due to the urgent nature of everything else he had had to do.
Now, after motioning the both to sit, he finally started to delve deeper into the facts he had overlooked regarding the Royal Family.
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